Where was
tendering process for bottle return plan?
TORONTO –
The McGuinty government has handed a $75 million
contract to a major corporation without following normal
tendering practices, the Ontario Public Services
Employees Union says.
“According to a report in this morning’s Toronto Star,
the province will pay $15 million in the first year of a
five-year contract to Brewer’s Retail to run its new
deposit/return system for wine and liquor containers,”
observed Leah Casselman, president of the Ontario Public
Service Employees Union. “The McGuinty Liberals did not
issue any Request for Proposals to ensure that we have
the best possible system at the best price.”
OPSEU is on record saying that any deposit/return plan
should be run by the Liquor Control Board of Ontario.
“It is obvious that the best place for customers to
return wine and liquor containers is the place they
bought them,” she said. “What is even more obvious is
that, by sending empties to The Beer Store, the
government is guaranteeing that no bottles will ever be
re-used, which is an environmental atrocity.
“The only way to create a system that encourages re-use
of liquor bottles is through close co-operation between
the retailer – the LCBO – and the wineries and
distilleries,” Casselman said. “The LCBO has a close
business relationship and logistical links with its
suppliers, and as the largest buyer of alcohol in the
world, it also has considerable influence with them.
“The LCBO has an obligation to be a global leader in
re-use of wine and liquor bottles,” she said.
Casselman also blasted McGuinty for waiting three years
to introduce the bottle return plan.
“Since the Liberals were elected, roughly 200 million
liquor containers have gone into landfill that didn’t
need to go there,” she said. “For the Liberals to wait
three years just so they could introduce their plan in
an election year is cynical beyond measure and an abject
failure of leadership.”
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For more
information:
Randy Robinson (416)
448-7441; (416) 788-9134 (cell)
